Introduction to Inventory Replenishment
This help topic will explain how you can easily evaluate your current inventory status and quickly generate Purchase Orders to replenish your stock levels.
Usage
Use this feature to monitor stock levels of inventory items and reorder as needed. Reordering is done through the creation of Purchase Orders. This form makes it possible to create POs in a batch. Once the POs are created, you may open them for editing and/or print them in batch mode.
This form will also allow you to set item reorder points as well as Preferred Vendors of items on the fly (see tips section below).
Form Access
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From the main menu, click Company | Inventory Adjustment | Inventory Replenishment.
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You may also access this form via the Actions menu from the Invoice Item List.
Step-By-Step
- Open the form as noted above.
- Use the various filters and sorting options so that you are viewing only the items you wish to manage. If you are ordering for a single vendor or warehouse, use the Filter feature.
- In the Order field, enter the quantity of items that you wish to order. Total Office Manager will suggest a default based on how many you have in stock, how many on back order, and your current reorder point.
- Select a vendor that you wish to order from. Total Office Manager automatically selects the Default Vendor from the item form. Change the vendor as needed. Total Office Manager will create a PO using the vendor you selected.
- In the Unit $ field, please enter an amount that you have been quoted or expect to pay. Have a look at the Avg. $ and Last $ fields to see what you have paid in the past.
- You may select a Customer:Job if desired. This information is used for job costing. Total Office Manager will simply use this selection when the PO is created. This information will flow into the Item Receipts, Bills, etc. It can always be changed later. This is optional.
- Check the To Be Printed checkbox if you wish to mark the POs for batch printing.
- You may select a Department if desired. This information is used to departmentalize your financial statements and certain other reports. Total Office Manager will simply use this selection when the PO is created. This information will flow into the Item Receipts, Bills, etc. It can always be changed later. This is optional.
Filter
An inventory item list can get rather large for some companies. The filters were added to make it easy to remove items you do not wish to deal with.
You may filter by vendor, item category or warehouse. This makes it easy to prepare POs for one supplier or for just one category of items (like equipment). You may also use the warehouse filter to order on a truck by truck basis.
The Sales Activity Date Range allows you to view items that have been sold within a certain set of dates. This is handy if you wish to see what was sold yesterday or perhaps last week and reorder just those items.
Using the Reorder Point Range, you could deal with only items that have a reorder point of zero. This would be helpful so that you can set the reorder points using this form as opposed to doing each item manually.
Use the “Show Only Items That Need Reordering” check box and only items that need to be reordered will be included in the grid. Items must have a reorder point.
Fill Down
Use the Fill Down feature to quickly populate the Vendor, Department, and\or Customer field. To do this you simply select the appropriate record and click the Fill Down button.
Vendor
This will change the Vendor in this list, regardless of which are selected. The PO will use that vendor. The Preferred Vendor in the item is not changed. Note: The Vendor can be changed individually on any row. The Vendor will be reset after the PO is created.
Department
This will populate the Department in all rows, regardless of which are selected. The PO will use that Department for each item ordered. The Department will be reset after the PO is created.
Customer
This will populate the Customer:job in all rows, regardless of which are selected. The PO will use that Customer:job for each item ordered. The Customer:job will be reset after the PO is created.
Batch Printing
From the main menu, click File | Printing | Print Forms | Purchase Orders. The form is easy to use and should be self-explanatory.
Common Question
Q: Where are all of my inventory items? There seems to be a lot of items missing.
A: This list only includes Inventory Parts and Serialized Items that need to be reordered. Be sure to uncheck the Show Only Items That need Reordering to see items that don’t need to be reordered or items with no reordering point.
Tips
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Many of you have simply used POs to replenish inventory items as needed. You may continue to do this. You do not have to use this form. This form may be thought of as a worksheet to aid the reordering process.
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A single PO will be created for each vendor. In other words, Total Office Manager will not create one PO for each item ordered. They are grouped up by their respective vendor.
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Changes made on this form along with any POs created will NOT have an affect on any of your account balances.
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This form is not saved. In other words, there is no list of prior ordering other than the POs (if any) that may have been created using this form. The form is updated with current item status each time it is opened.
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You may enter a reorder point (the point at which you wish to reorder the item) on the grid and click the Update Reorder Point menu option. When you create the POs, the reorder point will be changed on all of the items that appear in the grid. This is a time saver as the only other way to do this is to open each item, make a change, and save\close.
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You may select a vendor (the Preferred Vendor you wish to include in the item form) on the grid and click the Update Preferred Vendor menu option. When you create the POs, the Preferred Vendor will be changed on all of the items that appear in the grid. This is a time saver as the only other way to do this is to open each item, make a change, and save\close.
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Total Office Manager will suggest a quantity to reorder (in the “Order” field) based on the following formula: Quantity to Order = Reorder Point – (Qty. On hand + Qty. on Back Order).
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If you need to order the same item from two different vendors, you will need to enter that item on a new line and select that vendor.
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When the POs are created, the internal memo field will include the words “Inventory Replenishment”.
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When the POs are created, the Due Date will be set to the next day. You may open each PO and change this if you need to.
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The Filter button (in the filter section) not only applies any filters you may have entered but it will also refresh the grid (form) when clicked.
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The columns that appear on the grid can be rearranged to suit the user’s preferences. Simply drag and drop the columns where you want them. The changes you make to the column ordering are per user and not global or by machine.
